Anti-masker punches breast cancer patient outside hospital, rips mask off
Maria Wheeler
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A woman protesting mask mandates attacked a breast cancer patient outside an LA medical clinic.
Cancer patient Kate Burns was outside Cedars-Sinai Breast Health Services in West Hollywood on Thursday when she got punched in the left breast during an altercation with anti-maskers. “Just another day in the bad place,” she wrote on Twitter with a video of the incident.
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The video shows a protester in a black hat standing directly in front of Burns with a megaphone. Burns is wearing a black facemask and sunglasses on her head. Burns says, “Get out of my way,” as someone in the crowd knocks the megaphone out of the protester’s hand.
Burns bumps into the protester with her shoulder, and the woman responds by punching Burns in her left breast, shoving her backward, and ripping off her mask.
“Masks don’t work,” yells someone in the crowd.
Burns also Tweeted that the attacker hit her surgery scars and sprayed her in the face with bear mace.
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Vishal P. Singh posted another video to Twitter, showing Burns engaging with a different group of protesters who were wearing “Covid is a scam” t-shirts and holding up signs.
“Lockdowns are never for our health,” one sign reads. “End the censorship of vaccine risks,” says another.
“1,000’s doctors censored,” another sign claims. “Vaccines are made with aborted fetal cells,” reads a fourth.
“I get treated there,” Burns screams at the protesters. “Get the f*** away!”
She continues shrieking at the group of protesters. “I’ve just gone through f***ing breast cancer. And you motherf***ers are here!”
One of the protesters responds, “That has nothing to do with you. We’re trying to help.”
Burns responds by screaming, “You are protesting a breast cancer f***ing center. It has everything to do with me and my community. Do you know anything about chemotherapy? Do you know what happens to the immune system?”
“Get on the right side of history,” a protester responds. “You’ve got a lot of anger you need to release. It’s a very dangerous emotion.”
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Following the clash, Cedars-Sinai Breast Health Services said in a statement, “While we cannot control activity that occurs on public streets outside any of our facilities, we have taken all available measures with our staff, our security and local law enforcement to ensure the safety of patients visiting our Breast Center, which remains open and fully operational.”
“We continue to follow all requirements from the state of California and Los Angeles County on indoor masking to protect against the spread of the virus that causes Covid19.”
The Los Angeles Police Dept. did not immediately respond to an inquiry as to whether there have been any arrests in connection with the incident.